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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29148738">Rebel Prince</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fatespeaker/pseuds/Fatespeaker'>Fatespeaker</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Wings of Fire: Changing Seasons [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adventure, Drama, Family, Friendship, Gen, IceWings (Wings of Fire), Not Canon Compliant, Revolution, Vive les IceWings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 09:00:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,406</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29148738</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fatespeaker/pseuds/Fatespeaker</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Revolution has come to the Ice Kingdom. As new ideas of freedom and change sweep through Pyrrhia, Winter, Lynx, and Hailstorm have the chance to fix their infamously cold and cruel tribe. Winter, now celebrated as the IceWings' own Rebel Prince, has finally found hope, acceptance, and even love.</p><p>But as power shifts and the monarchy falls, their fragile revolution starts to crack apart. Dangerous dragons slither on both sides. Sinister plots are whispered in the shadows. A mysterious prophecy promises blood and betrayal. When suspicions rise between Winter and his closest friends, with the fate of the whole kingdom at stake, who can be trusted?</p><p>Is this a new dawn for the IceWings... or the beginning of their destruction?</p><p>(Revolution AU. Ignores the 3rd arc of canon.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Wings of Fire: Changing Seasons [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1852768</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Rebel Prince</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This story is the fourth part of my "Revolution AU". It takes place after my stories Winter Returning, Winter Rose, and Sanctuary. I guess you could read this one by itself, but I highly recommend reading those first!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Excerpt from the <em>Revolutionary Rose</em>:</strong><br/>
<strong>"What is the Ice Kingdom?"</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>I ask you, fellow IceWings, what is this kingdom we fight for?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>A set of soulless circles? A plaything for a cruel queen? A mass of mindless shadows who fly on cue?</em>
</p><p><em>No. We are a kingdom of </em>dragons<em>. Of blue flesh and blood.</em></p><p>
  <em>And most of those dragons have no circle. Most of us live and die outside of the closed world of the elite. Most of us soar the bleak skies of the commoners, locked out of all the pretty places where the royals and nobles decide our destiny.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>What are the commoners now? Nothing.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Without voices. Without power. We are nothing in the eyes of our rulers. We have always been nothing to them.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And now, what do we hope to be? Something.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>We must make ourselves seen.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>We must never be silent again.</em>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <em>Screeeeech.</em>
</p><p>The soft scrape of a claw against an ice door. Bone-chillingly refined. Knocking was for commoners. This was how one called upon the Queen of the IceWings.</p><p>Said queen now stood at her open window, peering out at the IceWing palace from the highest room of its tallest tower. Snowfall surveyed the sparkling, white patterns below. All the spires and courtyards and crisply cut walls of ice. Perfection.</p><p>Nearly a year had passed since that night of chaos. That night when she had failed her ancestors and wept like a dragonet. That night when everything had nearly fallen to pieces. She had never felt so helpless, so trapped and terrified, not even when she'd been forced onto the throne in the midst of war and plague. At least during that dreadful coronation, she could depend on the faith of her subjects, her tribe. The rebel siege had shaken her very foundations. Shattered her frozen core.</p><p>But Snowfall had learned from her ordeal, just as she learned from every challenge. She'd strengthened her soul and tightened her grip. She'd sworn to herself, on her own royal blood, that she would never slip up again. And now, looking out at her perfect palace, she was proud to see that every trace of her mistake had been erased.</p><p>Everything had been cleaned - the radical words scrubbed away, the snow swept smooth, the smashed statues hauled off and replaced with spotless, new art. Everything was back in order. Exactly as it should be.</p><p>Snowfall paused, contemplating, as she had the luxury to. Her polished talons clutched an open scroll. Her poised neck fought the weight of her silver crown.</p><p>Then she turned, rolling up her scroll. "Enter," she called. Coldly, as a queen must.</p><p>One of her council dragons, Owl, marched meekly into the shining room. He bowed deeply, his wings spread on the ground, as one must in the private chambers of the queen. Then, straightening up while still avoiding her gaze, he said, "More news from the southern provinces. The Southern Castle remains under rebel control. They are inviting hungry peasants to spend the winter in its rooms."</p><p><em>Peasants crawling all over one of our finest castles!</em> Snowfall let out a huff, her displeasure evident enough to make Owl twitch and step away.</p><p>It had been her choice to surrender the castle to the rebels, for she knew they had the advantage with all those commoners on their side, but this still felt like another failure. An extra blast of frost to the face.</p><p>"On the bright side," Owl went on, "Queen Coral has responded favorably to our latest offer. Her spies will send us all of their information on the Talons of Peace as soon as we sign the deal."</p><p>Snowfall's wings stiffened. She peered serenely out the window, perfectly masking the great blizzard of grief and hate that raged on in her heart.</p><p>This crown she bore was no gift. Like an ancient animus spell, it took as much as it gave. Sometimes it seemed that her entire life was just loss after loss, all mourned in painful privacy as she put on a brave show for the world.</p><p>Snowfall had lost so much already. Her family. Her friends. Her childhood. Now these rebels sought to steal her future, to rip away the last of her hope and happiness. They had already taken her peace. Bit by bit, they were freezing her away.</p><p>But her power remained.</p><p><em>And power</em>, she recalled from Queen Glacier's lessons, <em>is everything.</em></p><p>Glacier had been a wise ruler, wise enough to teach not just her direct heirs but also their back-ups. She had always been one step ahead. So, even when disaster struck and Snowfall was suddenly made queen, the values of the ancient royals lived on. Two lessons in particular had been frozen deep into Snowfall's soul.</p><p>Power, of course... and <em>patience</em>.</p><p>"Owl," said Snowfall, silently motioning a servant dragon over to close the window, "I am summoning the Council. There are... changes I must make to this Conference of Circles."</p><p>Owl frowned. He was cocky, this one. Years of serving Glacier, who had allowed her council quite a lot of free reign, must have dulled the edge of his etiquette. Snowfall made a mental note of this. It was hard, keeping track of everything. Such work weathered the soul.</p><p>Now Snowfall stiffened, recalling all her royal lessons, and delivered her decision without doubt: "I am pardoning the traitors so that they may participate in the Conference. If they agree to peace, then they may come and speak as representatives. I will hear out their demands and address their complaints." She paused, then added with a bit of bite, "And if they do not agree, and continue their attacks, then I will crush them as we had previously planned."</p><p>"Your Majesty," Owl murmured, shocked, "this is a bold move."</p><p>"That is my order," Snowfall said firmly. "Inform the council of it."</p><p>By this time tomorrow, all of Pyrrhia would know of her decision. Perhaps they would celebrate and praise her mercy. Perhaps they would react with suspicion. Regardless, she knew the traitorous rebels would have to agree. Their forces stood no chance against the full might of the monarchy. Oh, they might drag their wings and bicker among themselves and cry about freedom, but eventually they would give in.</p><p>And then her plan could take flight.</p><p>Snowfall thought, with some satisfaction, about all the news she'd heard from Sanctuary. The so-called "Winter Roses" were already conflicted. The Talons of Peace were already antsy about supporting them. Their little front of "friendship" wasn't fooling anyone.</p><p>She'd been studying up, reading some of the darkest tales in the Royal Archives. Stories of vengeful queens and bitter wars and battles where both sides bled blue. The secret histories that had been hidden from the rest of her kingdom. This was not the first time some idiotic commoners had tried to rebel against the monarchy. Far from it. And never, in all those countless, bloodstained stories, did a single rebel ever survive.</p><p>That's why no one had ever heard of them.</p><p><em>How quickly the wind shifts and the storm dies,</em> she thought. <em>How quickly a revolution can fall apart.</em></p><p>"Oh," she called to Owl before he could depart for the Council, "send for Lynx as well." She smiled coolly, her talons tapping her scroll. "I must speak with her again."</p><p>The council dragon nodded, bowed, and left.</p><p>Alone now, Snowfall unrolled the scroll she had been reading. A rebel newspaper, published by the Winter Rose. <em>What is the Ice Kingdom?</em> it asked in the petulant, unrefined writing of a peasant. It was a chore to read such drivel, even more annoying than when she had to decode the rebels' secret correspondence.</p><p><em>Power and patience</em>, she reminded herself. <em>Always stay one step ahead.</em></p><p>The fools really thought she couldn't see through their clumsy, frozen-footed little plot. That she wouldn't be spinning an icy trap of her own. What a nasty surprise would be waiting for them when they tried to slither onto her throne.</p><p><em>I am Queen Snowfall of the IceWings, </em>she thought, transfiguring all her fears to a freezing, determined rage. <em>My blood runs with power. My word is law. The sky will fall before I let this change.</em></p><p>As for the scroll's titular question, Snowfall knew the answer to that.</p><p>
  <em>What is the Ice Kingdom?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>It is mine.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And it will be long after every rebel creature has been drawn and quartered on the snow.</em>
</p>
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